Road-drag.



1. J. KLElN.

ROAD DRAG.

APPLICATION FILED -APR. I2, 1916- RENEWED APR. 3, l9l1- PatentedJ11ne19,1917.

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J- I. KLEIN.

ROAD DRAG.v

APPLICATION FILED APR. 12. 1916- RENEWED APR. 3.1917.

Patented J une 19, 1917.

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JACOB J. KLEIN, or KEARNEY, NEBRASKA.

- ROAD-DRAG.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented'June 19, 191 7.

Application filed April 12, 1916, Serial No. 90,697. Renewed. April 3,1917. Serial No. 159,562.

To all 'whom z't may concern;

Be it known that I, JACOB J. KLEIN, a citizen. of the United States,residing atKearney, in the county of Buffalo and State of Nebraska, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Road Drags, of which thefollowing is a specification. This invention relates to that form ofroad graders which are commonly known as drags andone object of'the'invention is to provide a drag which may be connected with a tractor and thereby drawn over the road to be graded. Another object of theinvention is to provide novelmeans for scarifying the surface of the.road at the side of the same so as to destroy vegetable growth and alsoto roughen the surface and thereby cause the travel tooseek the middleof the road. The invention also seeks toprovide means whereby theinclination oftheblademaybe varied and the. pressure exerted through theblade regulated. Other incidental objects of the inventionwill, appearas thedescription of the .same proceeds.

;The invention is illustrated in the accompanying. drawings. andconsists in certain novel..features which will be particularly pointedoutain the claims following-thedef In thesaid drawings Figure 1 is aplan view, partly broken away, of adrag embodying my improvements;

I Fig. 2. is a sideelevation ofthe same;

Fig; 8. is ardetail. section illustrating the means for adjusting thedrag to the inclination. of the road;

guard wheel;

. Fig. 5 is a detail'showing the connection between the platform andthetruck.

In the accompanying drawings I be of anyzdesired construction, a draw bar-'2 being arranged at therear end of the tractor to. provide means forattaching the drag thereto.

The .dragcomprises ablade 3 which will .be-eonstructed of. stout steelas is the usual I. method .and which willbe preferably secured to abeamtof angleiron thisbeam when in use being disposed at an inclination orangle. to the line. oftravel. so;that the dirt cut off the surface ofthe road bythe blade will be directed toward thecenter ofthe same.

The beam; 4 is connected by longitudinal beams or bars 5 of angle ironto a rear beam 6 similar to the beam 4 and this rear beam ,6 has securedto the front sideof its dependlng flange, a resilient steel plate orleveler 7, this leveler being convex on its front face, as shown clearlyin Fig. 2, so that it will not dig into the surface of the ground butwill act as a trowel or leveling and packing member in order to smooththe surface and cause the loose dirt to fill the hollows. Should theroad be in a muddy or soft condition the de vice may be'adjusted so thatthe blade 3 will take lightly into the surface while the principalweight of the machine will be sustained by the leveler or packer 7 andthe surface thereby made. smooth as will be readily understood. Thebeams l and 6 are disposed below'longitudinal beams 8 which constitutethe main members of a truck, the said beams being-connected centrally bya cross bar 9 and at their rear ends by a cross bar 10 .while theirfront ends are. connected to the .draw bar or tractor. Brackets 11 aresecured to the said cross bar 10 and rollers 12 are mounted upon therear ends of said brackets to ride upon the road in rear of the leveler7 and thereby support-the machine so that the rear end .of the same willnot dig into the smooth surface of the. road under the back pressureupon the. machine due to the resistance offered by the rough hard dirt.

Avking bolt or pivot 13 is mounted in the central .cross bar 9 andserves. to consaid platformnear the front and rear edges "thereof arevertically disposed screws or threaded shafts 15 which are equipped withballs 16 at their lower ends fitted in sockets I. 1 7 provided upon thebeams i and 6. The havei :dicated a portion of atractor at 1 which maythe hand wheels will cause them to move vertically through the bearingsor sleeves 19 and consequently thesinclination of the blades maybevaried as required. I am thus enabled to accurately set the blades toanydesired dip and also vary the inclination .of thesame ,durin the travelof the ma- -Cllln6 lfQOI1dlt10nS emand such adjustment.

tbad b 2 19 th tract r is mounted a vertical spindle or shaft 20 havinga hand wheel 21 at its upper end disposed in proximity to the seat 22upon the tractor so that it may be conveniently manipulated. Upon thesaid spindle or vertical shaft are sprocket wheels 23 around which aretrained sprocket chains 24, the lower chain being connected with thefront ends of the longitudinal beams and the upper chain being connectedwith the platform as shown clearly in Figs. 1 and 2. It will be readilyunderstood that by partly rotating the spindle or shaft the sprocketwheels Will be rotated and act through the chains 24; to vary the angleof the blades to the line of draft. By the described arrangement theplatform and the blade will be adjusted simultaneously so that they willnot vary their relative positions, it being noted that the point ofattachment of a chain with the platform is vertically over the point ofattachment of a chain with the drag.

Upon the beam 5 at the right hand side of the machine I secure thebrackets 25 to which are pivoted the inner ends of a laterallyextendingframe 26 consisting of a bar having its front and rear membersconverging away from the ends of the beams 4L and 6 as clearly shown inFig. 1. To the front member 27 of this frame, I secure a plurality offorks or brackets 28 and in the said forks or brackets, I pivotstandards or arms 29 which extend downwardly from the brackets and areequipped with roller disks 30 at their lower ends. These disks 30 willpreferably be disposed at an angle to the line of draft, as shown inFigure 1, and they may be all of the same diameter or may be ofdifferent diameters as may be desired. It will be readily understoodthat as the machine is drawn forward, these disks will take into thesurface of the'road at the side of the same adjoining the ditch and willcut into and turn over the soil so that a supply of loose dirt will befed toward the central portion of the road to be reduced to a level bythe trowel or leveler 7 The front member 27 may be disposed at a rightangle to the line of draft, as shown, or at some other angle as may bepreferred and the disks may be turned up or down independently so thatany desired number of them may be used as desired. In, order to preventthe drag skidding or swinging around to the bank at the side of the roadand destroying the same, I provide a guard wheel or roller 31 which iscarried by a standard or supporting arm 32 pivotally attached, as at 33,to the front supporting bar 27 of the frame 26. When the machine is atwork this arm 32 will be disposed in a horizontal position, as shown inFi. 1, and the roller 31 will then ride along t e side of the bank andconsequently prevent the machine digging into the same. When the machineis to be drawn over the-road without cutting into the sur'- face thereofalong the side of the ditch the arm or standard 32 is turned to avertical position, as shown in Fig. 4, whereiti'pi rn the roller 31 willride along the surface of the ground andsupport the disks 30 out of contact therewith.

It is thought the advantages of my im-- proved device will be readilyunderstood from the foregoing description, taken in connection with theaccompanying drawings. The machine will be drawn over the road by thetractor in the same manner that drags are now ordinarily drawn by draftanimals. If the surface at the side of the road along the ditch is inthe proper condition the roller 31 may be lowered so that the: disks 30will be supported in an inoperative position, but if the'disks are to beused the roller will be turned to run on the side of the bank, as beforestated. The forward travel of the machine will cause the disks 30 to cutinto and turn over the soil at the side of the road, while the blade 3will cut off the hummocks or small hills of dirt in the traveled portionof the road and will deflect the earth thus loosenedtoward the centralpart or crown of the road. The edge of the blade 3 will, of course, bestraight and it will, therefore, serve to re duce the surface of theroad to a level condition and any clods which may escape the blade willbe acted upon by the coverer so that after the machine has passed, theroad will be smooth and free of ruts or ridges. The disks 30 by takinginto the ground at the sides of the road will out up and destroy allweeds and vegetable growth and will pulverize the soilsothat it maybeeasily moved by the drag onto the grade to be packed by travel. All rutswill be eliminated in the space between the traveled portion of the roadand the ditch and the grade will be uniform from the ditch to the crownof the road. By the use of the disks, the surface at the side of theroad will be made rough and loose and travel will, consequently, avoidthe side and seek the middle of the road. If some of the disks be swungupwardly and forwardly they may be supported by the bar 27 and they maybe secured in this position before the drag is hauled over the road. Ifthe frame 26 be swung upwardly upon its pivots, the disks will all beraised clear of the ground and the drag may be operated close to thebank.

It will be noted on reference to Fig. 1 that the pivots for the disksconsist of bolts inserted through brackets 28 and standards 29 andequipped with retaining nuts. By turning the nuts home, the standardsand disks may be secured in any position to which they may be adjusted.If the machine is to be drawn over a narrow road or through a narrowgate way, the frame 26 may be raised and held raised in any convenientmanner so that none of the members mounted on the said frame will be onthe ground.

The device is simple in the construction and arrangement of its partsand may be produced at a low cost, while it will be found highlyefficient in use.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new is:

1. In an apparatus for the purpose set forth, the combination of atruck, a frame mounted below the truck, a blade carried by the saidframe, a draw bar connected to the truck, a platform supported over thetruck, connections between the platform and the frame, and movableconnections between the draw bar and the platform and between the drawbar and the frame whereby to vary the horizontal inclination of theblade while maintaining the platform and the frame in a fixed relation.

2. In an apparatus for the purpose set forth, the combination of atruck, a transverse scraper blade disposed below and at the front sideof said truck, and a leveler carried by the truck in rear of said bladeand consisting of a transversely disposed resilient plate.

3. In an apparatus for the purpose set forth, the combination of a bladecarrying frame, a laterally extending support attached to one end ofsaid frame, ground treating members carried by said support, and aroller attached to the outer portion of said support and arranged to runin a Vertical or a horizontal plane.

4:. In an apparatus for the purpose set forth, the combination ofparallel beams, longitudinal bars connecting said beams, a platformdisposed above and in spaced relation to the said bars and beams, atruck interposed between the platform and said beams and having apivotal connection with the platform, a scraper blade carried by theforward parallel bar, a leveler carried by the rear parallel bar, a drawbar connected to the front end of the truck, and connections between thedraw bar and the forward parallel bar and between the draw bar and theplatform.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

JACOB J. KLEIN. he

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. G.

